Unraveling the Mysteries of the Heart: The Heart of Healing

Best-Selling Author and Physician Mimi Guarneri, M.D., to be Keynote Speaker at Conference

SAN DIEGO — Mimi Guarneri, M.D., co-founder and medical director of Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine and best-selling author of The Heart Speaks, will explore the physical, emotional and spiritual mysteries of the human heart as the keynote speaker at the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine’s fifth annual conference on natural supplements.

Dr. Guarneri’s keynote address, The Heart of Healing, will be held at 7 p.m. on January 18, 2008 at the Paradise Point Resort in San Diego. A world-renowned cardiologist, Dr. Guarneri will discuss the new science that views the heart as a complex organ that possesses its own intelligence, memory and vulnerability to emotional and well as physical stressors. In addition to sharing stories of her own personal journey, she will discuss how her patients helped her unravel the mysteries of the heart, and lead a group participation exercise to help conference attendees develop their own road maps for healing.

“Up until a few years ago, the suggestion that someone could ‘die of a broken heart’ would never have been taken literally,” says Dr. Guarneri. “Recently, however, we’ve learned that emotions resulting from grief really can affect the heart, and in turn, overall health.”

Stress, overwhelm and other emotional factors also have a significant effect on the heart, as Dr. Guarneri discusses in The Heart Speaks. The highly acclaimed book describes her journey from a stressed, overworked conventional cardiologist to one who learned to integrate “whole person” mind-body approaches such as stress reduction, guided imagery, yoga, meditation, exercise and proper nutrition into her own life and the lives of her patients—with amazing results.

“What we as physicians need to practice above all else is the art of healing,” Dr. Guarneri explains. “It is not just about ‘fixing’ patients, but about helping them learn to heal themselves, often starting with the ‘injuries’ to the heart that may have been building up over many years of stress, anger, sadness, and the like. We have the power to help patients learn to live purposefully, to embrace the joy in living and discover how to renew their spiritual and emotional health and, in turn, their physical health.”

Dr. Guarneri co-founded Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine and the center’s Healing Hearts program in 1999 to address the emotional and spiritual needs of the patient as well as the physical needs. Board certified in cardiology, internal medicine, nuclear medicine and holistic medicine, Dr. Guarneri has cared for heart patients using integrative medicine for more than ten years.

“It’s all about caring for the whole person,” says Dr. Guarneri. “Integrative medicine takes patients, whether they have had a life crisis or whether they are just looking to prevent a life crisis, and puts them in an environment that’s going to address body, mind and spirit. Our approach is personalized for each patient’s unique medical challenges.”

Dr. Guarneri received a medical degree from SUNY Medical Center in New York and served an internship and residency at Cornell Medical Center, where she later became chief medical resident. She is part of the Scripps Clinic medical group where she served as an attending in interventional cardiology. Dr. Guarneri is also a member of the American College of Cardiology, Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Medical Women’s Association and a diplomat of the American Holistic Medical Association.

Natural Supplements: An Evidence-Based Update, January 17-20, 2008, and Dr. Guarneri’s keynote address is open to professionals and the public. Continuing medical education credits are offered for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, pharmacists, dietitians, acupuncturists, chiropractors, and psychologists. To register for the conference, call (858) 587-4404 or go to scrippsintegrativemedicine.org.

Part of Scripps Health, Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine blends allopathic care with evidence-based complementary treatments and therapies. The Center provides care for people with heart disease, pain, weight management needs, cancer, diabetes, stress, women’s health issues and other health concerns. Through clinical research, education, prevention and lifestyle changes, the center seeks to empower its patients to take charge of their health and prevent disease. More information about the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine can be found at scrippsintegrativemedicine.org.